Death and loss had become an unwelcome companion in 2019. First my father, then three months later, my mother.
Never mind that for both -- one afflicted with severe arthritis and dementia at 96, the other with Alzheimer's and in a near vegetative status at 91 -- the end of life on this planet was a blessing.It was still . . . death. It was emptiness, where once resided the breath of parents who had loved unconditionally for 66 of my years on Earth.
While I firmly believe we will be reunited in God's light and love, But until then, I must live in the here and now. And now, they are gone.
So, having saved up for several years, Barbara and I booked a 10-day cruise along the Northeast Coast, from New York City to Boston, Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in Canada.
We chose to break the cycle of mourning with celebration of life, of seeing places and people we had never seen before.
New Jersey, New York and Boston were fascinating for all the usual reasons -- their mere size, density, skyscrapers, and historicity. And, they were confirmation that we would never want to live there . . . and underscored our appreciation for less crowded, more amiable and beautiful for raw outdoor variety of mountains, forests, rivers and deserts of the West.
I'm going to take my time recounting our cruise and excursions over the coming several blogs.
It is a time of life, and set of experiences, worth tasting in full.
Stay tuned.
